Strauss & co - 20 May 2019, Johannesburg

169 276 Jacob Hendrik Pierneef SOUTH AFRICAN 1886–1957 Matlala’s Kraal signed and dated 46; inscribed with ‘Native Huts, Basutoland’on the reverse oil on board 45 by 60 cm R2 000 000 – 3 000 000 EXHIBITED Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, A Space for Landscape: The Work of JH Pierneef , July to September 2015. LITERATURE Wilhelm van Rensburg (2015) A Space for Landscape: The Work of JH Pierneef , Johannesburg: Standard Bank Gallery. Illustrated on page 57. Matlala’s Kraal is a tiny village that nestles in the foothills of a mountain range close to Polokwane in Limpopo. Pierneef was particularly drawn to this site, so much so that he used it in a number of different works: a well-known linocut, with its dramatic interplay between black and white planes, was based on the scene, as were various water colours and caseins. The artist even considered the scene for one of the murals he painted for South Africa House on Trafalgar Square in London in 1935. What is remarkable in all of these renditions, is the fact that the architectural structures in the foreground are so integrated with the background that one can hardly distinguish between the natural world and the constructed. What is special about this work, though, is the abstract, geometric composition extending across the whole picture plane. The huts in the foreground seem to be facets of the rock surfaces in the background. The integration of these elements is achieved by means of the soft brown and ochre tones mingled with cool shades of blues and greys. The stylised, isolated forms of trees and other verdure function as symbols of life in Pierneef’s silent, ordered version of nature. The abstraction of forms in his landscapes never detract from their integrity, however. In later life Pierneef switched from geometric abstraction to what could be called schematized realism. 1 1. Hans Fransen (1982) Three Centuries of South African Art , Johannesburg: AD Donker, page 295.